A mother and daughter cry as people are trapped in a house that a tree fell on during Hurricane Florence, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

THREE more people have died in North Carolina as a result of the hurricane- turned-tropical storm Florence, bringing the overall death toll to 11.

The US Marines, the Coast Guard, civilian crews and volunteers used helicopters, boats and heavy-duty vehicles to rescue scores of people trapped by Florence’s shoreline onslaught, even as North Carolina braced for what could be the next stage of the disaster: widespread, catastrophic flooding inland.

A day after blowing ashore with 145km/h winds, Florence practically parked itself over land all day long and poured on the rain. With rivers rising toward record levels, thousands of people were ordered evacuated for fear the next few days could bring the most destructive round of flooding in North Carolina history.

Nearly a metre of rain had fallen in places, and the drenching went on and on. “I cannot overstate it: Floodwaters are rising, and if you aren’t watching for them you are risking your life,” Governor Roy Cooper said.

“This storm is relentless and excruciating. There is probably not a county or a person that will not be affected in some way by this very massive and violent storm.”

US President Donald Trump has been briefed by telephone on Florence’s impact on the East Coast.

Robert Simmons Jr. and his kitten "Survivor" are rescued from floodwaters after Hurricane Florence dumped several inches of rain in the area overnight. Picture: APSource:AP

As of 5pm, Florence was centered about 95km west of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, inching west at 4km/h - not even as fast as a person walking. Its winds were down to 75km/h. With half of the storm still out over the Atlantic, Florence continued to collect warm ocean water and dump it on land.

Forecasters said the storm will eventually break up over the southern Appalachians and make a sharp rightward swing to the northeast, its rainy remnants moving into the mid-Atlantic states and New England by the middle of the week. The National Hurricane Center said Florence broke a North Carolina rainfall record that had stood for almost 20 years.

A downed tree uprooted by Hurricane Florence likes next to homes in New Bern. Picture: APSource:AP

ROLLING INLAND

In its initial onslaught along the coast, Florence buckled buildings, deluged entire communities and knocked out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses. But the storm was shaping up as a two-part disaster, with the second, delayed stage triggered by rainwater working its way into rivers and streams.

The flash flooding could devastate communities and endanger dams, roads and bridge.

Authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of up to 7500 people living within a mile of a stretch of the Cape Fear River and the Little River, about 150km in from the coast.

The evacuation zone included part of the city of Fayetteville, population 200,000.

Officials in nearby Harnett County urged residents of about 1100 homes to clear out because the Lower Little River was rising toward record levels. One potential road out was blocked as flooding forced the shutdown of a 26km stretch of Interstate 95, the main highway along the Eastern Seaboard. Coast Guard helicopters were taking off across the street to rescue stranded people from rooftops and swamped cars. Coast Guard members said that choppers had made about 50 rescues in and around New Bern and Jacksonville as of noon.

A car is destroyed from falling bricks as Hurricane Florence passes over Wilmington, North Carolina on September 14, 2018. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

DEADLY TOLL

The dead included a mother and baby killed when a tree fell on a house in Wilmington, North Carolina. The child’s injured father was taken to hospital.

In Pender County, a woman died of a heart attack; paramedics trying to reach her were blocked by debris.

Two people died in Lenoir County. A 78-year-old man was electrocuted attempting to connect extension cords while another man died when he was blown down by high winds while checking on his hunting dogs, a county spokesman said.

A boat rests in front of a damaged home from tropical storm Florence in New Bern, N.C. Picture: APSource:AP

Two more people died in Duplin County due to flash flooding and swift water on roadways.

South Carolina recorded its first death from the storm, with officials saying a 61-year-old woman was killed when her car hit a tree that had fallen across a highway. Three died in one inland county, Duplin, because of water on roads and flash floods, the sheriff’s office said.

Rescuers remove a man from a home that a large tree fell on after Hurricane Florence hit the area on September 14, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

UNDER THE WEATHER

After reaching a terrifying Category 4 peak of 225 kph earlier in the week, Florence made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane. It came ashore along a mostly boarded-up, emptied-out stretch of coastline.

More than 60 people had to be pulled from a collapsing cinderblock motel as the “once in a 1000 years storm” began to pound the coast.

Waves crash over a road and foreshore eroded by hurricane Florence in Ocracoke, NC. Picture: APSource:AP

Hundreds more were rescued elsewhere from rising water. Others could only wait and hope someone would come for them.

Shaken after seeing waves crashing on the Neuse River just outside his house in New Bern, North Carolina, restaurant owner and hurricane veteran Tom Ballance wished he had evacuated.

Flood waters from hurricane Florence inundate the town of Engelhard, N.C. Picture: APSource:AP

“I feel like the dumbest human being who ever walked the face of the earth,” he said.

As the giant, 643-kilometre-wide hurricane pounded away, it unloaded heavy rain, flattened trees, chewed up roads and knocked out power to more than 600,000 homes and businesses.

The biggest danger, as forecasters saw it, was not the wind but the water: the storm surge along the coastline and the prospect of up to a metre of rain over the next several days that could trigger catastrophic flooding in a slow-motion disaster well inland.

By early afternoon, Florence’s winds had weakened to 120km/h, just barely a hurricane and well below the storm’s terrifying Category 4 peak of 225km/h earlier in the week.

But the hurricane had slowed to a crawl as it traced the North Carolina-South Carolina shoreline, drenching coastal communities for hours on end.

Waves created by Hurricane Florence are seen along Cherry Grove Fishing Pier on September 14, 2018 in North Myrtle Beach, North Carolina. AFPSource:AFP

Mr Cooper said the hurricane was “wreaking havoc” on the coast and could wipe out entire communities as it makes its “violent grind across our state for days.”

He said parts of North Carolina had seen storm surges — the bulge of seawater pushed ashore by the hurricane — as high as three metres.

The shelter of a petrol station lies on the ground in Wilmington, North Carolina, after Hurricane Florence made landfall Friday, September 14, 2018. Picture: AP/Chuck BurtonSource:AP

Florence’s forward movement during the day slowed to a near-standstill — sometimes it was going no faster than a human can walk — and that enabled it to pile on the rain.

The flooding soon spread into South Carolina, swamping places like North Myrtle Beach, in a resort area known for its white sands and multitude of golf courses. For people living inland in the Carolinas, the moment of maximum peril from flash flooding could arrive days later, because it takes time for rainwater to drain into rivers and for those streams to crest.

A mother and daughter cry after people are trapped in a house that a tree fell on during landfall of Hurricane Florence, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Preparing for the worst, about 9,700 National Guard troops and civilians were deployed with high-water vehicles, helicopters and boats.

Authorities warned, too, of the threat of mudslides and the risk of an environmental disaster from floodwaters washing over industrial waste sites and hog farms.

A line of military vehicles waits before driving through floodwaters rushing across US 70 East near the Lenoir County Shrine Club. Picture: APSource:AP

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Florence could become a major test for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was heavily criticised as slow and unprepared last year for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, where the death toll was put at nearly 3000.

North Carolina alone is forecast to get 36 trillion litres, enough to cover the Tar Heel state to a depth of about 25 centimetres.

Some information from Cape Lookout NS, Shell Point, Harkers Island as of 4 AM. Lots of tree damage, debris, and power lines down across the Island. Reports of major flooding on all access roads to the park. #Florence#ncwxpic.twitter.com/Na3XNAGKw4

Currently ~150 awaiting rescue in New Bern. We have 2 out-of-state FEMA teams here for swift water rescue. More are on the way to help us. WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU. You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU. #FlorenceNC

In Jacksonville, North Carolina, next to Camp Lejeune, firefighters and police fought wind and rain as they went door to door to pull more than 60 people out of the Triangle Motor Inn after the structure began to crumble and the roof started to collapse.

In New Bern, population 29,000, flooding on the Neuse River left 500 people in peril.

“WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU,” the city tweeted around 2am. Friday. “You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU.” Boat teams including volunteers rescued some 360 residents, including Sadie Marie Holt, 67, who first tried to row out of her neighbourhood during Florence’s assault.

A child sits on a single mattress at a Hurricane Florence evacuation shelter at Conway High School in Conway, South Carolina. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

“The wind was so hard, the waters were so hard ... We got thrown into mailboxes, houses, trees,” said Holt, who had stayed at home because of a doctor’s appointment that was later cancelled. She was eventually rescued by a boat crew; 140 more awaited assistance.

Ashley Warren and boyfriend Chris Smith managed to paddle away from their home in a boat with their two dogs and were left her shaken.

“Honestly, I grew up in Wilmington. I love hurricanes. But this one has been an experience for me,” she said. “We might leave.”